If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

NFL Europe II?

Bottom line, after two years the NFL seems to know what it had now that it's gone.
Commissioner Roger Goodell said during the league meetings in March it may indeed be time to revisit the idea of a developmental league. Seems something like NFL Europe wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Spring has sprung, summer's closing in and by all rights there should be some NFL hopefuls — emphasis on the hopeful — playing somewhere, somehow. The league put the boards on the windows of its European venture in 2007 and while its developmental attempts never made the money it hoped or tugged at the world masses like it hoped to, it did serve a purpose.

It allowed players who needed a chance to play to do just that, especially at quarterback.
And you would think a league that has so many people working in it who are continually whining "Where, oh where are the quarterbacks?" would provide a place to train them.

Ask around and you get all kinds of theories, mostly about the money out the door with not enough T-shirts or whatever sold to stem the tide, cost effectiveness and all of that. Some team owners tired of the investment and Goodell has said there was little support from the players as well when the current collective bargaining agreement was extended in 2006.

In the end it's hard to avoid the idea the NFL simply pulled up a chair and picked running a TV network over developing players when it decided the NFL Network was in and NFL Europe was out.

Unfortunately the impression given is that any future marketing opportunities that may come with broadcasting some or all of its own games was a more prudent direction than improving the product itself.

When the NFL shut down the six remaining teams in NFL Europe, there were those in the league who estimated the endeavor, in all of its forms, lost $400 million or so since the start in 1991.

Not a lot for say, a sub-prime lender with both hands now extended, but still an attention-grabbing number. Still, peel away some layers in the 15 years the NFL operated some kind of developmental operation in its offseason — it did not play in 1994 and 1995 — to the 28, 31 or 32 teams that funded it in those years and it comes down to about a $1 million per team, per year.

Or about a third of what some backup quarterbacks will pull in this year alone.

And at no position on the field are players so not ready for primetime exiting college football than at quarterback. All the way from how they say the cadence, to how they call the play in the huddle, to finding a way get back from center to even be in a position to throw a ball.

"For me it kind of gave me a chance to work in 11-on-11 situations, on a 100-yard field and compete for a job, win a job and play to keep the job,'' said Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner.

This past January's NFC playoffs was a showcase for it all. Warner and Carolina's Jake Delhomme, who competed for the starting quarterback job with the Amsterdam Admirals in 1998, faced off with an NFC title game appearance on the line. Warner started 10 games for the Admirals that year and led the league in yards passing (2,101), attempts (362), completions (165) and passing touchdowns (15).

Delhomme, in limited work, completed 15-of-47 passes for 247 yards to go with no touchdowns and four interceptions. But he went back to Europe in '99 and led Frankfurt to a league championship. Delhomme has since had four 3,000-yard passing seasons and started a Super Bowl.

But it is Warner — an undrafted player with two league MVP trophies, a Super Bowl MVP, a championship ring and now three trips to the title game — who is likely NFL Europe's most-heralded graduate. He has often said his lone summer, as well as his extended stint in the Arena Football League which is idle this year as well, gave him a chance to prove he could play.

And quarterback will always be the position in the most need of some kind of developmental help — they often just take longer to ferment than others do. With the growing use of the spread offenses, or offshoots of it, in high schools and colleges around the country, the dilemma of what to do with all of the passers who are now in a professional football league that isn't really on board with that trend only becomes bigger.

But it's not just quarterbacks. Adam Vinatieri — Amsterdam, 1996 — has three game-winning kicks in the Super Bowl. The Broncos had three starters in their offensive line in 2007, a year they finished ninth in the league in rushing, who played in NFL Europe.

And there are a host of coaching candidates, especially those looking to jam their foot in the NFL door for the first time, who got the experience they needed to land the one interview they hoped for, in offseason football.

The United Football League — a four-team upstart that will begin play this fall — is trying to position itself as a lower-priced alternative to what it has called an "underserved'' football fan base. They hope to expand, they hope to grow, they hope to compete with the NFL for at least few eyes and ears on autumn Thursdays and Fridays.

The league says it hopes to add a few more teams in 2010 and beyond. That it wants to spend within its means, stick to the developmental plan. But many have tried this, after all, and all have had to eventually walk away from the table, turning their pockets inside out as they went looking to see if anything was left over.

But perhaps, if the new guys really do have enough cash to make a go of it over the long haul, there could be some kind of developmental arrangement with the NFL down the road. Because whether the folks on Park Avenue would ever admit it, they need one and always will.

Nothing sells football like better football, after all.

by Jeff Legwold, Special to FOXSports.com

I really hope they bring it back, get something going with the CFL or do something to help develop these players. There are quite a few players who with just a few years could've been productive maybe even great (Harrison) players in the NFL. To bad Goodell lost sight of that and only cared about the money part of NFL Europe.

If you don’t stand behind our troops.....Please feel free to stand in front of them!!!

"Give me a 6 pack, half hour of rest and lets go play them again....We can beat them."
--Jack Lambert

"They say that when you're the champs, everybody will try to beat you. Well, I'm glad we're the champs, so bring 'em on, bring 'em all on. If we die, we ain't gonna die running. It's gonna be a fight."
--Joe Greene

They will need something to develope the rookies an undrafted players when they go to 18 regular season games.Because 2 preseason games are not enough to get an good look at the rookies an undrafted player in camp IMO.

NFL Europe was a good idea but by the late 90's there was little/no coverage in the UK and 5 out of the 6 teams were based in Germany.

The problem is such a league will always be a second rate version on the US NFL and what's the point from a fan's point of view. American football fans worldwide (like myself) affiliate with a franchise, perhaps the NFL should consider globalising the franchise. If there was a London Steelers affiliated to the Pittsburgh Steelers which consisted of their fringe players, drafted players, recovering players etc I would support them and watch them play.

American sport is different from the UK in that the franchise is often as important as the city it is based in. The Steelers will always be in Pittsburgh, but imagine as a Steelers fan in the US you could watch the London Steelers throughout the summer playing in Europe. You could see how HOOD, URBIK etc match up against other draft players in a competitive league.

Before you reply, I know there are many donwfalls to this idea..ie 32 teams outside of the US is probably unsustainable, but it's an idea I'm putting out there.

However Mr Goodell if you do pick up on this idea and decide to send the Browns to London you can f@@k right off.......!

To me the whole point of having NFL Europe or some kind of development league isn't for popularity, fans or making money. Its for the benefit of the players who could use playing time that they wouldn't get in the NFL.

If you don’t stand behind our troops.....Please feel free to stand in front of them!!!

"Give me a 6 pack, half hour of rest and lets go play them again....We can beat them."
--Jack Lambert

"They say that when you're the champs, everybody will try to beat you. Well, I'm glad we're the champs, so bring 'em on, bring 'em all on. If we die, we ain't gonna die running. It's gonna be a fight."
--Joe Greene

If Dieselmans comments are to be taken literally then all those players who aren't playing in the NFL need is a ball and 100 yards of grass. Any development league has to be popular, for the fans and money making to survive.

If it is all these 3 things then it will benefit everyone, fans and players alike.